Mir Blames Ego For Fedor Loss

Following his 48 second knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 198. Frank Mir feels like his ego got the best of him, and plans to not let that deter his comeback.

The first round heavyweight grand prix loss marked Mir’s return from a two-year layoff following a suspension by the USADA.

Even though Mir was able to knock Emelianenko down with punches in the opening seconds, the Russian recovered then hip-tossed Mir to the canvas. Emelianenko would then find a way to finish Mir with strikes later in the round, but Mir believes the fight was lost following the Hip toss.

“I gotta admit, it embarrassed me to get tossed through the air like that. So when we got up, I kinda went into street fighter mode. I just started throwing left hand after left hand instead of setting up my strikes and being composed, which, two years since I’ve competed seriously, my composure was not what it should’ve been. That’s probably where the most ring rust came into it, is once I got into a firefight. I just got emotional instead of staying strategic.”

Mir is hoping to “go back to my roots” and focus on his grappling with the help of jiu-jitsu black belt Robert Drysdale, and he’s looking to return this summer with ACB, the Russian promotion with which Mir works as a color commentator, and a potential fall return to the Bellator cage..

“They’re talking about October,” Mir said. “I’m like, OK, that’s cool. I would like to get a fight in with ACB before that so I can just get more time clocked under me, so I can get my timing back on for fighting. There’s nothing like it. We can train as much as you want, but there’s nothing like the real thing. I’ve had 40 seconds in the last two years, so I need some more time, some more rounds.

“Hopefully the next fight up, honestly, I’ll probably not take someone as dangerous as Fedor, get my feet a little bit more underneath me,” Mir added. “And then hopefully Fedor, if he goes through and has success and wins the tournament, maybe I can be his first title defense if I’ve strung together some wins.”